


Rate of Recovery

by rosecake



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Episode: s02e03 The Changeling, F/M, First Kiss, memory recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-02 04:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21155972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/pseuds/rosecake
Summary: Scotty helps Uhura get back to normal after her run-in with Nomad.  Post 2x03 “The Changeling”.





	Rate of Recovery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kingstoken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingstoken/gifts).

Uhura smiles when she sees him, but there’s an edge of uncertainty in her expression that leaves Scotty feeling ill at ease. Ordinarily she’s the very picture of certainty and confidence, and the moment of hesitation before she speaks, while fleeting, is unlike her. 

“Lieutenant Commander Scott, right?” she asks.

Scotty nods, the fact that she at least knows his name lifting his spirits some. “That’s right,” he says. “I’m surprised you remember.”

Her expression tightens for a moment and she shakes her head, and he deflates a bit. “Not exactly,” says Uhura, tapping the instrument panel at the head of her bed. McCoy has sworn up and down that she’s fine, physically at least, but it’s a little hard for Scotty to buy it when he’s still got her tucked away in the back of Sick Bay. “Chapel showed me the video of what happened, and I recognized you from that. She told me who you were.” 

“Ah,” said Scotty. “Well, it’s perfectly understandable you forgot, given the circumstances. You usually just call me Scotty, by the way.Most people do.” 

She smiles, a little brighter this time, and stands up to reach for his hand. He takes it, and they shake as if they’re meeting for the very first time.And, he supposes, from her point of view it is the first time.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Scotty,” she says, smoothing down her skirt before she sits back down on the edge of her bed. She’s in civilian clothes, and he’s always a little thrown to see her out of uniform. He’s so used to her in brilliant, familiar red. “Although, really - we did know each other before, right? Outside of just seeing each other on duty.”

“Well, yes, we're friends,” he says, and then hesitates for a second. He doesn't want to come across as presumptuous, but he’s worked with Uhura for a while now, and he trusts her. And he enjoys her presence. “Fairly close friends, I'd like to think.”

Uhura reaches for his hand and squeezes it for a second. “You know, now that I think about it I’m absolutely certain we’re the best of friends,” she says, smiling, and he finds himself beaming back at her. She’s so bright and engaging she's friends with nearly the whole crew. There's certainly enough flowers and small gifts stacked around the bed for her to start her own gift shop, even though Dr. McCoy and the other medical staff frown on that sort of thing in the Sick Bay.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any flowers for you,” he says. “I’m afraid all I brought you is this old circuit board.”

He holds it up to show her, and she looks perfectly delighted to have it as she takes it from him. “This is from my station, right?” she asks, and runs her fingers along the blackened, burnt corner of it. “This one’s broken, though.” 

“Been reading the manuals, have you?” he asks, and she nods. 

“I want to get back to work as soon as possible,” she says, flipping the board over to examine the other side of it. “I couldn’t really say why, but I have this feeling that once I get back into the rhythm of the job everything else will come back to me. It’s strange, though, going through the comm manuals and seeing my name on all of them when I don’t remember writing a word of them.” 

“In truth, there’s no better person to lean communications from than Nyota Uhura,” he says. “Sadly, given your situation, you’ll have to settle for me.” He sits down beside her and gestures towards the damaged portion of the panel. “That got fried during our little adventure with Nomad, and nobody’s had the time to get around to fixing in yet. I was going to walk you through how to handle the repairs.”

Suddenly Uhura turns somber and sets the board down in her lap, folding her hands over it. “I saw what you did for me on the video,” she says. “You were trying to defend me when it hit you.” 

There’s a solemn gratitude in her voice too serious for him to handle. “It was nothing,” he says. “And in the end it didn’t really do much good, did it?”

“Scotty, you were dead,” she says, turning to him, her eyes wide with distress. “You very easily could have stayed that way!”

A heated flush creeps up his neck, and if he doesn't manage to shift the subject soon his whole face is going to turn as red as his uniform. “But I did get better,” he says. “McCoy even had the good grace to inform me that I didn’t come anywhere near close to beating the record for time spent dead. I was only out of it for ten minutes or so.” 

She gives him an incredulous look, and then bumps her shoulder against his. “Well, I think it was very brave of you,” she says. 

“I suppose I took it a bit personally,” says Scotty. “After all, I’ve always enjoyed your singing.” 

The sound of Uhura’s laughter is just as bright and musical as her singing. “That’s sweet of you. I only hope you like the way I handle the comm station just as much.” 

He’s very aware of how close they are as he sits next to her, going over the circuitry and the equipment involved in her job, but he relaxes as she gets more detailed in her questions and he has to give her more involved answers. Everything is new to her, but not quite brand new - she’s been learning everything he and Chapel and the Enterprise library can throw at far faster than even the brightest student ever could. It’s like she just needs to be reminded, and then the information slots right into place. These are the Federation frequencies, these are the Klingon ones. This is the latest intelligence on Romulan codes. This is how to repair a blown switch, and this is how you manually override the universal translator.

“The Captain wants you to re-take the cadet exams, just to be sure everything is operating like it should upstairs,” he says, tapping his skull. “But I don’t think you’ll have any problems. You seem to have a solid grasp of it.”

“Thank you, Scotty,” she says, throwing an arm around his shoulder and pulling him in for a hug. “I couldn’t have done it without you.” 

He hugs her back, happy with how like her old self she seems. “I’m sure you would’ve managed just fine on your own,” he says. “But I’m happy to go over it as many times as you like.” 

— 

“Scotty!” calls Uhura from somewhere behind him, and she takes his arm in hers as he turns towards her voice. “Just the man I was looking for. You’re not on shift, right?”

“Right,” he says, looking her over. She’s back in uniform, and she looks happy about it. “How about yourself?”

"I’ve got a few hours before mine starts,” she says. “Come have something to drink with me?”

“Of course,” he says, and follows her as she steers them to her quarters. “How’s your memory doing this morning?”

“Gets better every day,” she says. “There’s still holes here and there, but recently everyone and everything I see gives me a little flashback. I called my mother yesterday and practically my whole childhood came back to me in a wave. I was so relieved! When I first rang her I was worried I was going to forget her name.” 

“That’s wonderful,” says Scotty, delighted. Even as fast as she was learning, they were all worried some things would be lost to her forever. The more she remembers of her life, the less he worries about her. They reach her door and she buzzes them in, and she gestures for him to sit down while she makes coffee. 

“I was checking out my station the other day, and all of a sudden I was so surprised you wanted me back on the job so soon after having my mind fried. Just like that I remembered when I first came aboard - you were so upset with me over every little change I wanted to make! You didn’t want me touching a single bolt or wire.” 

In his defense, she’d had a lot of very new and very untested ideas for improvements when she’d first arrived. And he can’t let just anyone go around messing with the Enterprise’s core systems willy-nilly. They’d end up with chaos. 

“That was before I knew you,” he says. “I just needed a little time to get to know you.” 

“Do you remember when I wanted to switch out the old signal amplifiers for the new Andorian models? You were so mad I thought steam was going to come out of your ears.” 

“I know, I know,” he says, ducking his head. “But it didn’t take me long to see the light, did it?”

Uhura laughs. “No, it didn’t. Not really.” Her expression turns thoughtful, and she holds her mug in front of her in both hands, as if warming them. “There are still blank spots,” she says. “Things I’m not entirely sure of. Can I ask you a question?” 

“Sure,” he says, not knowing what to think of the shift in her demeanor. 

“Were we involved?” she asks, and Scotty nearly chokes on his coffee. 

“Wh- What?” 

“You know,” she says, her dark, shining eyes fixed on him, “romantically?”

He’d really love to say yes, but he’s not in the habit of lying to his friends, especially not now, when Uhura's still got that uncharacteristic air of vulnerability about her. “No,” he says, “I mean, it’s not that - no, uh, we weren’t, and-“ He stops himself and swallows, aware that he’s stammering and not sure how he’s going to manage to speak properly any time soon. 

“Ah,” says Uhura, very calmly. She sets her mug down on the table and drags her long fingers along the ceramic rim. “Thank you. It was hard to tell, for some reason, whether that was something that had actually happened or just something that I’d wanted.” 

It’s strange, because she’s not telling him anything complicated, but even so he somehow can’t understand her. “What do you mean?” he asks, more than a little dumbfounded. 

“You care about me, don’t you?” she asks, reaching out to cover his hands with her own.

“Yes." He's never said it in so many words, but he’s never really felt like it needed to be admitted out loud. “Of course I do.”

Uhura smiles at him, pleased with his answer. “And I care about you,” she says, and her fingers intertwine with his. “So if our relationship wasn’t romantic - well, would you like it to be?”

“Yes?” he responds, a little confused as to why she thinks she even needs to ask. Of course he wants to be with her. Who wouldn’t?

“Wonderful,” she says, and she slides over in her chair, close enough to kiss him on his cheek, and his skin is hot where she’s touching him. He wasn’t expecting anything like this when he woke up this morning. He’s not prepared for it, can’t fully wrap his head around the fact that it’s happening. “I’m going to go ahead and consider this our first date.” 

He hopes it’s the first of a hundred thousand. 


End file.
